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ST. PETERSBURG — The 1990s made a return to Tropicana Field Saturday night with a post-game concert by MC Hammer. But the game that preceded it was not the one Cito Gaston managed so successfully in that decade.
The result was pretty much what Gaston's become used to in his return to managing: a 6-4 loss to the Tampa Bay Rays in which his banjo-hitting lineup waited until the ninth inning to string some hits together, only to have the rally die when the tying run, Scott Rolen, hit a foul pop to Rays catcher Dioner Navarra.
Gaston may believe this team is on the verge of good things, but the list of fellow travellers gets shorter every day, especially on a night like Saturday's, when Evan Longoria's first career grand slam capped one of Roy Halladay's most frustrating innings of the season.
What surprised Gaston — other than what he thought was a botched call on a ball down the first-base line by home plate umpire Mike DiMuro that set the stage for Longoria's slam — was the manner in which Brandon League was ejected from the game by DiMuro after hitting Navarro with a pitch in the eighth inning. Navarro bunted for an infield hit in the sixth inning with the Rays leading 5-0 and Rays manager Joe Maddon was not pleased with League's retaliation.
Toronto Blue Jays' manager Cito Gaston argues a call with home plate umpire Mike DiMuro in the sixth inning against the Tampa Bay Rays in St. Petersburg, Fla. on Saturday. (J. Meric/The Associated Press)
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- Los Angeles Angels
- Tampa Bay Rays
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- Rod Barajas
- Jason Bartlett
- Jesse Carlson
- Carl Crawford
- Cliff Floyd
- Matt Garza
- Roy Halladay
- Brandon League
- Evan Longoria
- Dioner Navarro
- Lyle Overbay
- Carlos Pena
- Troy Percival
- Scott Rolen
- Marco Scutaro
- Dan Wheeler
- Ben Zobrist
"I really disagree with that they did," Maddon told reporters after the game. "We'll stop trying to score runs when they stop trying. Maybe in 1922 you wouldn't do that because nobody could hit a home run. But in the year 2008, people can hit home runs. You see how they came back. Once again in baseball, for me, there are moments when people definitely mentally move at a glacier pace and they really have to get beyond it. It stunk."
Navarro was hit by League after Cliff Floyd's lead-off homer had given the Rays a 6-0 lead.
"It's not my place to decide what's right and wrong," said Blue Jays starter Roy Halladay when he was asked if he thought DiMuro might have believed it was retribution for Navarro breaking some unwritten rule. "I just make pitches. That's for somebody else to decide."
Gaston, naturally, said League was simply wild. And he was surprised there was no warning given. "That's the way they do it now," Gaston said, shrugging.
The Rays and Blue Jays both had issues with DiMuro's strike zone. In fact, Blue Jays pitching coach Brad Arnsberg had already been ejected for arguing balls and strikes after he went out to talk to talk to Jesse Carlson and waited long enough for DiMuro to come out to the mound.
Until the Rays' sixth, Halladay and Matt Garza were locked in a pitcher's duel. Neither flinched. But with Ben Zobrist and Akinori Iwamura on base after back to back singles, Carl Crawford's swinging bunt rolled down the first base line. Halladay stood over it, then scooped it up when he saw it go foul. But DiMuro said it was fair, and when Gaston came out to ask him to check with the other umpires, DiMuro declined. A single by Carlos Pena drove in a run and after Eric Hinske was caught looking, Longoria put the Rays on the way to their second win in as many games with a slam.
The victory moved the Rays 1 ½ games ahead of the Boston Red Sox in the American League East. The Blue Jays, 12-11 under Gaston, are 10 ½ games out.
"It was a good game up until that point," Gaston said of DiMuro's call. "I mean, he just missed a call and that stirred everything up. I don't know how he missed the call. It's not like it was down the line. It was right in front of him.
"I don't think it bothered Roy," Gaston continued. "But it did put him in a bad situation."
The Blue Jays are 12-11 since Gaston replaced John Gibbons as manager. Gibbons is in St. Petersburg this weekend, at the tail end of a family trip to the Bahamas, and he stopped by the Blue Jays hotel Saturday afternoon briefly.
Halladay, true to form, said that it was his one pitch to Longoria that changed the game, not the call. "We tried to go with a cutter in and I just left it up," said Halladay, now 11-7 after a six-inning outing in which he allowed eight hits, walked three and struck out six.
Rays starter Matt Garza (8-5) allowed two hits and struck out six. He was out of the game when the Blue Jays finally managed to put some hits together against three Rays relievers in the ninth, chief among them being a two-run single by Marco Scutaro.
The teams wrap up the three-game series Sunday afternoon with John Parrish (1-0, 2.77) taking the mound against the Rays Edwin Jackson (5-6, 3.93).
